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John briskly strode down the sidewalk, his tangled black hair ruffling slightly in the breeze. Lights shone of the houses windows, and he could see families animatedly talking about one thing or the other, settling down for dinner. As he quickened his pace, John could hear the leaves rustling in the now dry brown trees. The sky was already beginning to darken, and if he didn't hurry home he would have to cut through that neighborhood. John shuddered as he thought about it. He had only cut through it once before, before he knew any better, and it had felt wrong right away. The air had gone dead calm, and everything went eerily silent. Even the sound of leaves that had crunched beneath his feet became deadened. He had hurried out of it quickly, trying to ignore the old, Victorian-like houses looming around him. As he left, his bright blue eyes gave it one last backwards glance and noticed the street name, faded and rusty. 612.
John snapped back into the future and looked at his surroundings. The houses were starting to look more familiar, a sign that he was getting close to his home. The sun was almost set by the time he sped around the corner to his neighborhood and burst through his houses’ door.
“John! What took you so long!” yelled his dad from the kitchen. “You don’t want to miss any of my superb cooking!”
John laughed to himself, taking off his sneakers. “Of course I wouldn't. Did you make cake again?”
“Of course I did! Cake is my specialty and you of all people should know it.” Mr. Egbert replied as he walked from the kitchen to hug his son. “Come on, let’s go set the table."
“John!” His friend yelled as she ran towards him along the sidewalk.
John wearily blinked his eyes in the sunlight, his vision still shrouded with sleepiness. He adjusted his glasses and gazed towards the red brick school he was walking towards. As his friend’s smiling face covered John’s view, he barely managed to mutter a “What’s up Jade?” before his friend burst out in excited talk.
“Woah, slow down.” John uttered, calming down his friend who now was bouncing on the balls of her heels. “I’m not getting a word you’re saying.
“I can come over to your house today! Isn't that awesome!” Jade replied, trying to slow the rate of words coming out of her mouth. “Maybe we can even take that super creepy shortcut you told me about.” She added on, laughing slightly.
“No way!” John quickly said. “I've already made that mistake once!”
“Aw, come on! It will be spooooky.” Jade drawled out, waving her fingers slightly in front of the other girl’s face. “Where is that place anyways? I've never seen it.”
“It’s on street 612, haven’t I told you this before?” John replied nonchalantly.
“Yeah but I thought you were joking. We don’t have numbered streets here.”
“612 is not the street’s number, it’s the actual name. I know, I thought it was pretty weird too.” John glanced at his friend’s face, recognizing that it was obvious Jade still didn't believe him. “Whatever, I’ll just show you after school.”
“Jade, wait up! Do you even know the way to the place?” John yelled, trying to catch up to his friend.
Around the two racing teens the sun shined brightly, illuminating the colors in each falling leaf. The air had a scent of pumpkin spice swirled in with a hint of cinnamon, and the sky was a cozy shade of blue.
“Are you sure you want to see the neighborhood?” John gasped out, stopping to rest with his hands on his knees when he had caught up with Jade.
“You’re not convincing me otherwise.” Jade smirked. “Let’s go already.”
John stood back upright and took off, passing rows of houses and trees, trying to find the way to the shortcut. The wind whipped past him, blowing his hair in his face as it went. While he was pushing his hair back in its proper place, he noticed something in the corner of his eye and came to an abrupt stop.
“What’s the deal?” Jade said dazed, after swerving to avoid crashing into John.
John’s eyes widened as he recognized the rickety wooden houses looming before him, and the silence that came with them.
“Here it is! Neighborhood 612!” He said excitedly, turning to face Jade. “Isn't it creepy?”
“John… There is nothing there.”
As John looked back to the gloomy darkened neighborhood, he realized that his friend was right. There was no neighborhood, only two houses standing side by side with carved pumpkins at their doorsteps, the sidewalk connecting where the vanished road was supposed to go. The two friends started walking away, and as John looked back he was sure the wind rustling through the dry leaves was laughing at him.
The temperature seemed to drop two degrees, and the rest of the walk was spent in silence.
John stood in the middle of the neighborhood 612. The darkness was so thick, it seemed almost suffocating. The wind whistled around menacingly, whispering in his ear, “Stay here, stay with us. You can live here forever and we will all be so happy!”
“No!” He shrieked, running as fast as his legs could carry him down the unending road. “Get away from me!”
“Where are you running to? How can you outrun us if we’re already here?”
John woke up with sweat on his face. The book he was laying on had left an imprint on his face, and as he adjusted his glasses he noticed that he was still in the library. He let out a sigh and started collecting his books from the ground. Another day and he was still no closer to finding a mention of the neighborhood 612 anywhere. He had asked his parents, his teachers, scoured the internet, and had still not found even a smidgen of information. The town library was his last resort, but even her he had not found anything.
“John!”
John looked up with a start and noticed Jade angrily staring at him. He fixed his skewed glasses, and meekly said, “Yes?”
“John do you even realize what time it is! The library is closing! I spent an hour looking for you! Your dad didn't know where you were, nobody did! What are you doing here this late anyways?”
“Oh, you know, just some more research on the neighborhood.” John mumbled out.
“That again! You have spent a whole week researching it, and I bet that you haven’t had a decent night of sleep since you showed me that place!”
“Jade I had an idea. I can’t find anything anywhere I look right?”
Jade nodded, looking at John suspiciously.
“Why don’t just I go there? What’s so bad about getting firsthand information? I mean, they must have something!”
“John that is the downright dumbest idea I have ever heard. Sure, let’s walk in the creepy gloomy neighborhood that only you can see! Why can’t you forget about it?”
John looked at her with wide eyes that held a glint of something Jade knew John would never have. “Jade, I can’t just do that… You don’t understand, do you? Nobody understands!”
“John? John!”
Jade took off after John, racing out of the library and into the cold, brisk air of the evening. Houses and trees whisked by her, but she did not notice them as she tried to catch up to John. Only when John turned the corner to another neighborhood did she recognize what path they were taking.
“John stop! Don’t go there!”
However, John did not stop. If anything, he ran even faster. As he turned the last corner, Jade frantically wished for there to be nothing there, just like the time John first tried to show her the neighborhood, but that did not happen as a gasp left her mouth. She turned the corner, and was greeted by the sight of crumbling, towering houses, all standing in an unending line. A rusty sign creaked in front of them, the number 612 peeling of off it. Jade could hear the stillness the neighborhood emanated all the way from across the street.
But the worst thing about the picture was not the sinister houses, or formidable silence. The worst thing was John running right through the neighborhood with the wind following him, blowing at his side. Jade prepared to yell for him again, but she blinked and the neighborhood was gone, and John with it.
Jade stood in shocked silence for a few seconds, the yell she was about to release dying at her lips. Each breath she took seemed to require effort, and she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She wracked her mind for other options, and as she finally chose one she took off running again. Carved pumpkins and lit windows flew by her until she was panting at the front of the Egbert’s house, knocking at the door frantically. As soon as the door opened, she started spurting out pleas for help and that John was in danger. Still trying to speed through the story as fast as possible, Jade looked up at who she was talking to and stopped mid-sentence. On the doorstep stood John’s dad, wearing a confused look on his face.
“I apologize, but I think you have the wrong person. I don’t have a son, or know anybody named John. Who are you?”
Jade peered into the house, noticing that all of the family photo’s she had seen the multiple times she visited were gone from the walls. As she slipped the last year’s school yearbook out of her pocket and noticed that John’s photo was nowhere in it, Jade felt a rock drop in her stomach.
She didn't think she would ever see John again.